


this is how we love

by littlesciencebabies (readaholic2200)



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 07:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3682914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readaholic2200/pseuds/littlesciencebabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She wasn’t used to showing affection like that. Her usual signs of affection were smiles no one else was allowed to see and little quips that, to the outside viewer, wouldn’t see as being romantic at all but to Happy, it was the equivalent of preparing a candlelit dinner."</p>
            </blockquote>





	this is how we love

All day, Happy and Toby did nothing.

Walter had called in _very_ early that morning, much to the annoyance of both geniuses, and told them that they didn’t need to come in to work today, that he had everything handled. The job Walter had taken on was simple enough, some big name company in LA needed him to figure out who was hacking into their mainframe and editing their site with crude messages. Toby had had it figured out within two seconds (“That guy. Backwards baseball cap, half-tucked-in shirt, that cocky swagger. Totally gives off a vibe that says ‘Drawing dicks on everything is actually hilarious’, when in fact, it is not.”) However, Walter needed to go in that day just to finalize everything, leaving the rest of Scorpion with a day off.

So, this left Toby and Happy with no plans for the day, which was perfectly fine for both of them. After almost two life-flashing-before-their-eyes jobs (why do they still even go on these jobs?), they both deserved a well-earned lazy day.

After rolling over to fall back asleep after that _very rude_ 5:45am wake-up call, they both tried to sleep again, to no avail. After an hour of trying and failing to fall back asleep, Happy was the first one to actually get out of the bed, attempting to drag Toby along with her.

“Get up,” she groaned at him, pulling on his arm. He responded with a loud sigh and flipping to his other side.

“No, it’s too goddamn early,” he grumbled into the pillow. “No work means all sleep, all day.”

Happy eventually resigned in her obviously fruitless tries to get Toby out of bed. It was a wonder she even tried at this point, seeing as there was nothing that could get between Toby and his sleep.

Seeing as Toby probably wouldn’t be up for another hour or so, Happy decided to make some breakfast. As she walked into Toby’s practically miniscule kitchen, her mind was set with one idea: to make her usual frozen waffles heated up in the toaster until it was charred to a crisp then drench it with syrup.

Yet, somehow, while making her usual breakfast, she ended up also making two slices of toast smeared with strawberry jelly, Toby’s daily breakfast. Happy wasn’t entirely sure how she ended up with the plate of toast in front of her. All she knew was that one moment, she was pouring the syrup over her burned waffles, next, she had a piece of toast in one hand and strawberry jelly in the other.

She tried telling herself that she didn’t make this for Toby, she made it for herself. Yet, she couldn’t because if there was one thing that Happy despised the most, it was strawberry jelly. So there was no use in pretending that it _wasn’t_ for Toby, no matter how much she wanted to.

Even though Happy and Toby had been dating for about nine months, Happy still had some reserves when it came to their relationship. Although being in a relationship with a shrink had caused her to be a tad more open about her feelings than she was a year ago, Happy still wasn’t fully comfortable expressing her more intimate emotions, even with Toby.

And that’s why making breakfast for him almost second-nature made her uneasy. The simple domesticity of it made something tug in the back of her mind, putting her on edge. She wasn’t used to showing affection like that. Her usual signs of affection were smiles no one else was allowed to see and little quips that, to the outside viewer, wouldn’t see as being romantic at all but to Happy, it was the equivalent of preparing a candlelit dinner.

So, she just left the toast there, continuing to the couch to watch some TV and eat her own breakfast.

The waffles were long gone by the time Toby came shuffling out of the bedroom, automatically headed for the pantry, presumably to make his own breakfast. His hand stopped halfway to the pantry handle, noticing the toast on the counter.

Rubbing some sleep out of his eyes, Toby turned to Happy, who was currently fixated on a commercial playing on the TV. “Did you make me breakfast?”

“No,” she replied quickly, her eyes not leaving the screen.

“Well, then there must be some sort of breakfast fairy going around and making toast with strawberry jam.” He took a huge bite out of the toast, noticing the room-temperature taste immediately. “Because if you didn’t make it, and I didn’t make it, then who did?”

Silence was her answer.

“Okay, okay,” Toby continued, walking towards the coach. “But to _whoever made this_ ,” He gestured towards the entire apartment, voice raising in volume slightly. “Thank you.”

Right before he sat down next to her, Toby planted a kiss on the top of Happy’s head. As much as Happy tried to not smile, to not show that that small action made her heart flutter in her chest, the corners of her mouth betrayed her, turning upwards so her face was broken in half with a smile.

“So, what do you want to do today since we have no work?” Toby asked after finishing his breakfast.

Happy shrugged. “Well, considering you slept through half the day,” She motioned towards the clock, which read 11:39 AM, “there’s not much left to do.”

Toby suddenly looked disoriented. “Woah, it’s _that_ late. Christ, Happy, how long have you been up?”

Happy didn’t want to make Toby feel awkward by saying that she had been up for about four and a half hours, so she told a little white lie. “Dunno. Not too long. Less than two hours. I tried to get you up, but you just said you wanted to sleep so I let you.”

Toby, obviously remembering that date that he overslept, immediately rushed to apologize. He moved closer to her and put one hand on her cheek, stroking it with his thumb. Just a few months prior, Happy would have been shying away from his touch, but now, she had gotten used to touching. In fact, it made her feel safe, a sense of a home she never had.

“Hey, I’m really, _really_ sorry,” he said, his eyes staring intensely into hers. By the way he looked at her, Happy knew he was truly sorry. A look like that didn’t mean a fake apology. “We’ll do whatever you want today, okay?” As soon as he saw Happy slightly nod her head, Toby leaned in and pecked her lips before settling back into the couch.

Happy could feel her heart fluttering in her chest despite the many times they have kissed over the past few months. Stupid feelings.

“So, what _do_ you want to do?” Toby asked, smiling up at her in that way that made Happy simultaneously want to punch him and rip his clothes off. Still, she kept it cool.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Let’s just watch some movies or something.”

Toby’s face immediately lit up. “Perfect! I know just what we could watch.” He jumped out of the couch to grab a movie and pop it into the player before sinking back into the couch, arm around Happy’s shoulders.

The movie and its subsequent sequels ended up being some high-budget racing series where all the movies had pretty much the exact same plot, just varying bad guys. Even though Happy could barely tell one movie from the other, she absolutely _adored_ the cars the characters used in the films. What she would do to get her hands on one of _those_ for an hour.

* * *

By the time all five (or was it six?) movies were over, it was nearing midnight and Happy was about ready to pass out. Being up so early and then having a lazy day did not equal acute awareness, even for Happy Quinn. So, naturally, halfway towards the last movie, she started to doze off on Toby's shoulder.

By the time she was jolted awake by Toby moving to get up, the credits were rolling. She automatically tried to play it off as if she had been awake the whole time.

"Yep, just the same as the last _eight_."

"There were only six," Toby replied calmly. They both sat up to stretch their limbs from sitting down for the whole afternoon. Toby moved an empty bowl that they used for popcorn aside before continuing, "Besides, you fell asleep for the last hour or so."

"No, I didn't," she replied stubbornly. "I'm not tired at all." However, her face told a different story, eyelids drooping half shut, head tilted to the side as if she were about to fall asleep right on the spot.

Toby just gave her a look, the one she so kindly dubbed the "annoying shrink look". It was the kind that felt like she was an open book and he was reading her. Yes, it got very annoying at times, but right at that moment, she was too tired to fight it.

"Okay, fine, I'm tired." Happy could feel the fatigue lulling her to sleep. She curled up on the couch, head resting on a pillow.

"C'mon. Let's go to bed." Toby stretched out an arm for her to take.

"I'm good here, Doc." To prove her point, she snuggled more into the couch and closed her eyes. She would have probably fallen asleep right then in there if ...

Suddenly, she was being lifted off the ground. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Toby had put her on his back, similar to the way the team had found them back when they were separated in Bosnia.

"You are not sleeping on this uncomfortable couch," Toby protested. "You deserve the best bed that I could afford, which, unfortunately, isn't the 'best' but at least it's better than the couch."

Happy couldn't help but smile as she rested her head on Toby's shoulder blade. She'd been thinking a lot about how much their relationship had changed throughout the day. She had come to notice the little things throughout the day.

How he would absentmindedly grab her hand and stroke her knuckles with his thumb. How he would listen intently whenever she started babbling on about how each of the cars in the movies worked and how she would _love_ to just tinker on one of them for a few minutes. How he wouldn’t mind if she took up the whole couch, laying her legs across his lap.

It got her thinking about how when they had first started dating, she would never even let him hold her hand, much less carry her to bed. And she couldn't deny the fact of how her heart raced even just when he glanced at her.

She had come to a conclusion.

"I love you, Toby," she murmured against his shirt before drifting back to sleep.

* * *

Toby was never a fan of suppressing emotions.

Because of his “PhD in feelings”, as he often said, he always thought it was best to be forthright about one’s emotions. That was partially the reason why he had said that he was in love with Happy to her so quickly. He knew, 100%, that he was in love with the amazingness that is Happy Quinn, so why beat around the bush and pull that will-they-won’t-they crap that network television seemed to be pulling these days?

He knew his feelings and he expressed them accordingly. From his experience, no good ever comes out of one suppressing emotions.

However, Toby did see why some might feel the need to do so.

In Happy’s case, her trust issues inhibited her from growing close with someone. That’s why he was so ecstatic when she wanted to try dating again even though he screwed up _massively_ for their first one.

But that ecstasy paled in comparison to how he felt when she said “I love you, Toby” as he carried her to bed. He had expressed his love for her many times in many ways over the months they were dating, and he had never given her any indication that she should say it back. So he knew that she could say it on her own terms.

When he felt those four words whispered against his back, Toby couldn’t help but break into a smile so large it split his face into two. He knew that she said it because she meant it. He had given her her time and her space to figure out her feelings by herself.

As soon as he laid her down on the bed, already asleep, Toby kissed her forehead and whispered against her skin, “I love you, too.”

As he headed out the door to clean up the mess they made, he swore he could see a smile on Happy’s face.

 


End file.
